The 2023 Cruise Season Is Officially Underway At The Port Of Montreal With New Ships, And Increased Tourism

The 2023 cruise season at the Port of Montreal got off to a great start this morning with the arrival of Holland America Line's Zaandam, one of the largest cruise ships that visits the Port of Montreal, with a capacity of 1,440 passengers. To mark the occasion and honour the 150th anniversary of Holland America Line, a plaque was presented to the captain of the Zaandam, Ane Smit. The season will run until October 30, 2023, and the number of international passengers is expected to exceed 45,000, up nearly 20% more than last year.

With 51 visits (five more than last year) featuring 38 embarking and disembarking operations and 13 stopovers, the season will generate $25 million in economic impact.

Confirming the resolve of cruise lines to lower their environmental impact, several of the scheduled ships are equipped to use the shore power supply facilities that have been available at the Port of Montreal's Grand Quay since 2017. This technology makes it possible for berthed cruise ships and wintering vessels to turn off their engines, resulting in an average reduction of five tonnes of GHG emissions with each connection. Eight different ships, from the Holland-America, Regent Seven Seas, Hapag-Lloyd and Viking cruise lines, on altogether 19 visits this season will be able to plug in and power up this way.

"The cruise sector is proving its attractiveness and dynamism in Montreal. Not only is the number of passengers up from last year, gradually returning to a level of traffic comparable to our pre-pandemic levels, but more and more of the cruise ships that stop at the Port are using our shore power supply system. The Port of Montreal is the only port on the St. Lawrence and one of only 25 in the world to provide this service to cruise ships. As well as generating major economic benefits for the City, the cruise industry is a tourism sector that is transitioning to more energy-efficient and sustainable practices," said Martin Imbleau, President and Chief Executive Officer of the MPA.

"Every year, the docking of the first cruise ship kicks off the long-awaited summer tourist season. Montréal is delighted to see the arrival of thousands of cruise passengers, who will add to the lively atmosphere of the Old Port as they enjoy its many cultural activities. We are particularly excited about the on-dock shore power at our cruise terminal, which aligns perfectly with the values of the sustainable destination that we are," said Yves Lalumière, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal.

Many first visits

Five ships will call at the Port of Montreal for the first time this season:

Hapag-Lloyd's Hanseatic Inspiration (230 passengers)

Oceania's Vista (1,200 passengers)

Peace Boat's Pacific World (1,950 passengers)

Viking Ocean Cruises' Viking Neptune and Viking Mars (930 passengers each)

Of note, the ship The World, that last visited in 2015, will be in Montreal from September 25 to 27, 2023. What makes this 165-residence ship distinctive is that passengers own their own cabin. Imagine having a condo on the sea!

Marking Holland-America Line's 150th anniversary with a regular at the Port Piloted by Netherlands native Captain Ane Smit, who has been with Holland America Line for 23 years, the Zaandam is the first cruise ship to visit the Port of Montreal in 2023.

Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, Holland America Line has become the largest cruise line to visit Montreal in recent years. In fact, between 2010 and 2022, Holland-America Line ships made 136 visits to Montreal and brought 337,111 passengers, representing 54% of all passengers in Montreal during this period. In other words, more than one out of every two passengers arrived or departed from Montreal aboard a Holland-America Line cruise ship.

For nore details, please visit: https://www.port-montreal.com/en/cruises/arrivals-and-departures

MTLàTABLE Returns To Montreal November 2-16th 2017

Are you ready for MTLàTABLE? Is that your stomach that we hear growling? The list of restaurants participating in the 6th edition of MTLàTABLE is finally available! From Thursday, November 2, to Thursday, November 16, 2017, 175 restaurants will offer tables d’hôte menus priced at $21, $31 and $41 for the evening meal, as well as brunch for $15 in some restaurants. Now’s the time to choose! Special events Many culinary events will be offered during the 2017 edition of MTLàTABLE: culinary visits, local food product tastings, dinner shows, musical performances, wine events, Relais & Châteaux experiences, chocolate desserts, and much more. Delicious moments MTLàTABLE is a unique opportunity to get together over a meal, share special moments and discover new flavours. A proud partner of MTLàTABLE, Aeroplan offers its members many advantages so that this celebration of flavours brings them unforgettable memories. Wine events The SAQ will present the Salon des Vins d’Importation Privée (private import wine show), the largest gathering of artisan winemakers in Canada, from October 28 to 30. In addition, the Grande Dégustation de Montréal (wine-tasting event) will be held from November 2 to 4. Nearly 200 winemakers, distillers and brewers from around the world will gather at Place Bonaventure.

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Montréal’s 375th Anniversary Is Off To A Flying Start!

Montréal’s 375th anniversary: Let’s celebrate our “Nordicity” and play outdoors at Les Hivernales

The schedule of Les Hivernales, the first major participative event of Montréal’s 375th anniversary celebrations, was announced today.

As the event scheduled leading the official celebrations, Les Hivernales invites everyone who loves our city to come and get active, join the fun outdoors, and party on. From January to mid-March, there are a dozen original, varied, and vibrant activities on tap in Parc Jean-Drapeau, the Quartier des spectacles, and Old Montréal.

Here’s what they’re saying already!

“It all starts in 2017 by going outdoors to play!” says Gilbert Rozon, Commissioner for the Celebration of Montréal’s 375th Anniversary. “With elite sports, amazing shows, zany fun events, and great opportunities for the public to participate, there’s going to be something for everyone.”

“Montréal is a city that’s alive and hopping all four seasons of the year. The program for Les Hivernales is a loud and clear invitation to people all over Montréal, and visitors to our great city, to come join us, get warm out in the cold, and discover all sorts of fabulous new activities,” said Montréal Mayor Denis Coderre.

“As an illustration of the creativity that’s a hallmark of our city, the activities for Les Hivernales mirror the talent, imagination, and daring of our artists, entrepreneurs, and sponsors. The Québec government is proud to be a part of these celebrations that will make 2017 a year to remember for Montréal and for all Québec,” said Municipal Affairs, Land Occupancy, and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux, who is also Minister Responsible for the Montréal region.

“These celebrations for Montréal’s 375th anniversary reflect the lively character of Montréalers, people who get out and do things and enjoy the four seasons for all they’re worth, as families, or with friends, downtown and in our city streets and neighbourhoods. For Québecers and tourists alike, this will be one more great reason to visit Montréal in 2017, to come along and celebrate, enjoy themselves, and discover our beautiful city,” said David Birnbaum, MNA (D’Arcy-McGee).

Barbegazi // January 6–8th and 13–15th, 2017

Pit your skills against Barbegazi, the wild and crazy obstacle course on the Îlot Clark in the heart of downtown Montreal.

BARBEGAZI – frozen beard – is a nod to Quebecers’ love of outdoor winter fun! It’s all happening at Hivernales. Get pumped for some high-energy thrills on an obstacle course that winds through an urban forest and across a snow-topped replica of the Jacques Cartier Bridge. It won’t cost you a cent, but could earn you big bucks! Ten participants who complete the course in the fastest time will share a prize of $5000!

Igloofest: “Nordik” Village, Slide, and Games // Weekends from January 12th to February 19th, 2017

For Hivernales, IGLOOFEST has added more days, more fun, and more family activities.

For 10 years, IGLOOFEST has brought together thousands of snow-suited electronic music fans to dance under the open sky in Montreal’s Old Port. For the 375th Hivernales celebrations, IGLOOFEST will be in town for six weeks. That gives you two extra weekends of wild, woolly competition and Off-Igloofest evenings.

With IGLOOFEST, you’ve going to love winter in Montreal!

Fête des neiges de Montréal // Weekends from January 14th to February 5th

Come out to play and discover great new family activities at Parc Jean-Drapeau during the Montreal 375th anniversary celebrations.
It’s a fab line-up for the young and young-at-heart at the 2017 Montreal Fête des Neiges! We’ve got sleds and we’ve got tubes so you can enjoy some super slippery fun on snow or ice!

And that’s not all! For Montreal’s 375th anniversary, Parc Jean-Drapeau reinvented the Montreal Fête des Neiges with more than 20 activities designed to please every taste. We’ve got slides of all shapes and sizes, a new ice-sculpted Pirate ship, lively animation, good old-fashioned snow tubing, the Tyrolienne, the Ferris Wheel, dog sled rides, skating, and live shows for the whole family.

Descente Saint-Denis – Soap race //January 20-21st, 2017

A fun-filled soapbox race for the sheer pleasure of bombing down Saint-Denis Street in the heart of winter.

For one amazing weekend during Montréal’s 375th Hivernales, some 60 homemade soap-box cars will barrel down Rue Saint-Denis along a 280-metre obstacle course. What do you need to enter? Skill, teamwork, and a great sense of humour! The fun, friendly competition is open to anyone eager to participate in a fantastic event, and provide thrills to an enthusiastic crowd. So get ready to race or cheer on the racers.

Classique Montréalaise – Pond hockey Tournament // January 28–29th, 2017 (Rain date: February 4–5th)

Montréal’s biggest outdoor hockey tournament bring us together in our love of the sport!

During the 375th Hivernales, more than 500 players will don their borough’s jersey and hit the ice on a dozen rinks on the Olympic Basin. Calling on all hockey players, fans, and fun-lovers. You’re invited to the Hivernales du 375th Classique Montréalaise, a magnificent celebration of our national sport at Parc Jean-Drapeau! There’s something for everyone at this fabulous line-up of hockey, performances, and animated family fun.

Grande traversée du Saint-Laurent // Saturday, January 28th, 2017

An invitation to cross-country ski and snowshoe in Montréal during the last stop of the Grande Traversée du Saint-Laurent.

After an 8-day sports vacation that covers the Gaspésie, Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Québec City, the Grande traversée du Saint-Laurent will stop at Montréal to join in the festive ambiance of 375th Les Hivernales. During the last stop on this sports, cultural and gourmet odyssey, on January 28th, you are invited to come ski and snowshoe on the trails designed specifically for the occasion and enjoy Montréal from another viewpoint: a pristine snowy landscape.

Snow Moon by bike // Saturday, February 11th, 2017

A magical winter moonlit bike ride through the streets of Montreal!

What could be more magical than cycling through the heart of a moonlit city? As part of the Montreal 375th Anniversary Hivernales celebrations, cycling and winter enthusiasts are invited to take part in a luminescent parade of bikes along a 3.75-km route. Seasoned cyclists can up the ante and add a 15-km jaunt to the Olympic stadium to the excursion. Later, all participants will meet up in the enchanting Old port.

Montréal Ice Canoe Challenge // February 11–12th, 2017

Enjoy a ringside seat of extreme sport action at the Ice Canoe Challenge

It’s two exhilarating days of heart-pumping competition as top-level athletes race their canoes across more than 10 metres of the glacial St. Lawrence River. Come out and cheer on Captain Mylène Paquette and her VIVE MONTREAL 375 crew, or one of the dozens of other teams, for a fun-filled skill testing day on Saturday or the spectacular race on Sunday. Don’t miss this unique winter experience!

Hypothermic Half Marathon // Sunday, February 12th, 2017

Runners young and old alike are invited to come swell the ranks of the Montreal Hypothermic Half Marathon…bigger and better than ever this year, with 2 new courses.

This half marathon, already a popular event among elite runners, as well as folks who simply want to try a winter challenge, is making room for a bigger family during Les Hivernales on Montréal’s 375th anniversary. Besides running the 21.1 kilometre measured course, participants who can now run a 10.55 km course or a Half Marathon relay for 2 runners. The 2-circuit race follows a course through the thrilling setting of Île Sainte-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame, starting from Parc Jean-Drapeau in the middle of the St. Lawrence.

Polar Hero Race // Saturday, February 18th, 2017

Get ready, get set, or get a team together for a spectacular, extreme winter sport experience

Come alone, with friends, or sign up the whole family for an activity that’s unique in Canada – the POLAR HERO RACE. It’s all happening at the Hivernales Montreal 375th celebrations. Kids, adults, and seasoned athletes should start warming up for this unique, thrilling and exciting 5-km, 25-obstacle course.

Curling en lumière // February 23rd to March 11th, 2017

Discover the magic of Curling en lumière – a brand new activity that’s free for the whole family at the 375th Hivernales
MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE sheds new light on curling, by taking the time-honoured game outdoors and to dazzling new heights. For a truly unique interactive experience, try your hand tossing the rocks against the brilliant backdrop of a light and sound performance. Animators will be on hand to provide play-by-play commentary, get everyone involved, and tally up team points. There will also be a designated area for those who prefer to stand back and enjoy the scene.

Montreal City Guide: What To See Plus The Best Bars, Restaurants And Music

Summer in the city … Montreal explodes with festivals from May onwards. Photograph: Alamy

It’s got Gallic charm, North American grit and parties like nowhere else. And with two new direct flights starting from the UK, Montreal now makes a perfect city break

Montreal doubled for Brooklyn in John Crowley’s eponymous 2015 film, has been dubbed the next Seattle, and last year became the new “city that never sleeps” when Mayor Denis Coderre extended retail opening hours in the downtown district to 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Not that high living is anything new for the city on an island in the St Lawrence river. During prohibition, Montreal (a convenient train ride from New York) was known as the place where the drink flows and anything goes, and it has been living up to that reputation ever since. It has more than 100 festivals through the summer – many of them free – and chic new hotels such as the ALT Hotel (doubles from £100 room only) and downtown Renaissance (doubles from £155 room only). Add in two new low-cost flights from London Gatwick – WestJet launched two weeks ago (from £145 one-way) and Wow Air launches this week (from £99 one-way) – and Montreal may soon become the latest North American city break.

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 The chic new Alt Hotel

I didn’t have to look far to discover Montreal’s party spirit. Old Montreal, the city’s historic district, is where most tourists end up. It has good museums, the cobblestoned, 17th-century Rue St-Paul and the impressive 200-year-old Notre Dame basilica (see fitzandfollwell.co for guided tours of Old Montreal from £41pp). Across the harbour, the Biodome (£10.50 adult, £5.40 child) houses an excellent recreation of the four major ecosystems of the Americas: from the rainforest of the south to the polar tips of the north.

The Latin Quarter has good restaurants and fun bars, such as the 1920s-style speakeasy En Cachette. Venues such as La Sala Rossa and the Fairmount Theatrehost live music every night of the week. And for outdoor fun, there are 217 miles of cycle paths, hundreds of parks (including Mount Royal, with views across the city), the nine-mile Lachine Canal for kayaking and canoeing, and one of the world’s best standing river waves – surfers can ride this continuous wave on the St Lawrence river all day, without moving an inch.

All of which is great, but it’s not where the real action is. The new spirit of Montreal lies on the periphery, in former industrial districts such as Mile End, Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy, where vibrant artist communities are shooting up like flowers from the pavement.

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 Alternative tours by Spade & Palacio

To explore them, I took a different kind of tour. Rather than traditional sights and histories, Danny Pavlopoulos, co-founder of Spade & Palacio, offers a look around his home turf, the Plateau district, just north of downtown (spadeandpalacio.com, from £47pp including food and drink tastings). We had pastries in his local Café Le Dépanneur (206 Rue Bernard Ouest), which is also Montreal band Arcade Fire’s coffee-stop of choice. We swung by his favourite brewpub, the Dieu du Ciel for a glass of Péché Mortel (deadly sin), a thick coffee-infused stout (my favourite, though, was the very hoppy Babylone IPA at Montreal’s first microbrewery, Le Cheval Blanc) and tried the unofficial favourite food of Quebec province, poutine. This is cheesy chips and gravy, but somehow infinitely more delicious: Patati Patata (4177 Boulevard Saint-Laurent) is the locals’ favourite.

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 Classic poutine, with chips, gravy and cheese curd. Photograph: Alamy

Danny also showed me where to buy the best threads (Clark St Mercantile, which is big on independent brands, including its own clothing line); the best place for sundowners (Alexandraplatz Bar, a pop-up drinking den in a former warehouse in the Mile-Ex district); and the best summer parties (Piknic Electronik, for outdoor DJ sets on Ile Sainte-Hélène every summer Sunday, tickets from about £7). People hugged him on the streets, and I met his friends.

Later, I headed south to Little Burgundy. Along with neighbouring Griffintown, this former working class district is like the city’s Mile End district was 10 years ago: arty but still edgy. It’s swiftly becoming the foodie capital of Montreal, too. Famous spots like Joe Beef and Liverpool House, sister restaurants on Rue Notre Dame Ouest, have become synonymous with this city’s no-nonsense, high-quality food – the lobster spaghetti (£26) and oysters from its seafood bar come highly recommended. But there are also new treats, such as experimental Le Fantome (1832 Rue William), known for peanut butter and jam sandwiches with foie gras, and hip cafe-cum-bakery La Bête à Pain, which has just opened a branch on Rue Young a little way north in Griffintown.

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 La Bête à Pain

There are excellent cultural spaces too. Warehouse-style galleries such as Arsenaland Division Gallery, both on Rue William, are smaller than the main museums downtown but more challenging – until 3 July, for example, an interactive, virtual- and augmented-reality exhibition called Automata examines the impact of artificial intelligence on art and culture.

Montreal is an in-between land. It is a city of two tongues, two minds and two ways of life. French is the official language, but half the city speaks English. It’s like the confluence of two rivers: some of the waters blend together, but others may never mix. That creates a clash.

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 A stylised mural near the riverfront in Montreal Photograph: George Rose/Getty Images

“Living in Montreal is like dating someone with borderline personality disorder,” says Russ Cooper, a local guitarist. The French influence is everywhere: bars look more like brasseries, chip shops offer hand-cut frites and the patisseries rival Paris – including one that’s so good it’s called the G-spot (Point G) known for its macaroons. But there are also things that France would never condone: fine dining restaurants with tattooed waiters, microbrewed beer that trumpsappellation controlée wine, gastronomy that is experimental and fresh.

And that’s what makes Montreal special. Differences generate new ideas. Montreal now has the world’s second-highest proportion of people employed in creative industries (after London). The National Film Board of Canada has become a world leader in virtual reality and interactive films, picking up six Webby Awards for innovation this year. Montreal is also the third-largest centre in the world for video game production and fourth-largest for visual effects.

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 Cobbled Rue Saint-Paul in downtown Montreal. Photograph: Alamy

Arts centres such as downtown’s PHI offer constant streams of pioneering creative content, from boundary-pushing theatre and music to digital art installations, ground-breaking cinema and more. And the more creative the city becomes, the more creative people come here. There is a palpable sense of ingenuity and imagination on the streets.

And there’s plenty to do, too. This summer sees the Mural Festival of street art (9-19 June), a Circus Arts Festival (7-17 July), the Montreal International Fireworks Competition (2-30 July), as well as events for comic books, kites, folk music, rock’n’roll and reggae. Montreal now has the biggest comedy festival in the world – Just for Laughs (13-31 July), this year hosting Jimmy Carr and Russell Howard from the UK, often in small, intimate venues – not to mention the world’s largest jazz festival (June 29-July 9).

More than one local I met said their only complaint was that they felt guilty for having a night in.

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 Printemps Numerique Photograph: Martine Doyon

Electronic arts are thriving, too. I visited during Montreal’s Digital Spring, a city wide celebration of arts numeriques (until 21 June) and in one night explored a gallery of first world war photographs displayed in virtual reality beside endless rows of gravestones, and ended up on my back in a 360-degree acid-trip-inspired planetarium show at a cool technological arts bar and event space called S.A.T. Things like that tend to happen here.

Early summer is the best time to come. In winter, temperatures drop to skin-burning degrees and people hibernate like bears. (Although there are exceptions: “Dancing in a one piece fluorescent ski suit in -35C is pretty special,” one local told me.) Summer is the release. Bars and restaurants take over the streets, music rings from every corner, flowers bloom and colour floods the city. It’s like the final bell of the summer term, when all the kids run out to play.

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 Le Mal Nécessaire, a pineapple-themed bar in Chinatown

And play I did. My last night started in a pineapple-themed bar in Chinatown, Le Mal Nécessaire, then I moved on to watch award-winning Canadian comic Heidi Foss and sidestepped to Little Italy and a new, retro pinball machine joint calledNorth Star. I should have ended the evening listening to Seb Black perform at Emery Street Studios, but somehow, four giant bowling-pin-sized beers later, ended up with my head nearly in a plate of poutine at Patati Patata. And that was just an “ordinary” Friday night out.

Montreal’s not the new Brooklyn or the new Seattle. It’s not France, Great Britain or America. It’s not even really Canada. It’s its own thing, an island city. On Place d’Armes, in Old Montreal, a pair of sculptures depict a French woman holding a poodle and a British man holding a pug. The humans are turning away from each other, but the poodle and the pug just want to play. Perhaps, more than anything, they encapsulate the spirit of this city.

Because whatever clashes and harmonies this city creates, what matters most is that right now, the winter is over, the sun is out, there’s music playing – and Montreal is up for a good time.
• The trip was provided by Tourism Montreal (tourisme-montreal.org), Tourisme Québec (quebecoriginal.com) and Explore Canada (explore-canada.co.uk)

This article was amended on 24 May: it said, incorrectly, that Piknik Electronique was at Mont-Royal, and was free.

By Aaron Millar, The Guardian